Grow Mediums First time grower, first post. In need of some help.

[jp13]

Hello AFN, I have been lurking around for a few months trying to get a feel for things and trying to pick up some knowledge from the experienced people around here. I am new to growing. This is my very first run. I decided to go with autoflowers due to my personal circumstances. I could use all the help I can get. I am currently running 2 five gallon buckets with 6 inch netpots. Each bucket has 2 medium size air stones being pumped by an eco 1 commercial air pump. Each bucket also has a aquarium water heater set for 69 degrees. Light is a 400w metal halide about 21 inches from the tops of each plant. Also using a 4 inch inline fan and carbon filter for exhaust. My plants are about 4 weeks old on 400 ppm nutes. I use general hydroponics flora series performance pack for nutes drain to waste at about half strength. Also use calimagic, hygrozyme, aqua shield, sm-90 and have some great white myco. I think I may have given nutes a little too late or maybe not enough early on. I feel they may be a little stunted, but then again maybe I'm just overly paranoid lol. The roots have some brown on them but it wipes off and doesn't have a smell. There are also some brown clumps in parts of the root mass. All the new growth however looks pretty good, as in white. I will include some pics. Can anyone help me learn on this exciting journey? Any input is very appreciated. What do the leaves look like what may be wrong, or was wrong? Oh btw, the strains are dinafem white widow auto and sweet seeds sweet cheese auto. If you have any other questions let me know. Thanks!

 

[toke]

hey buddy im moving you to the Hydro Section

toke

 

[jp13]

Ok thanks.

 

[DWCocha]

Hi Jp .:Sharing One:
what nutes & how much went into the last res & this one mate ? That will help work out why there a bit unhappy & small for there age .

the brown bits in with the roots is not good & could well be the reason there stunted if its not nute related ... ive had it before & its usually from not enough 02 being pumped in or high temps or both ... if you have a chiller/heater then your air pump could be a bit weak ?

if you can throw up some pics of there roots & affected area ,plus a couple of your pump & the res foaming with the nute amount info that would be good ?

will wait for your response

 

[jp13]

Thanks for the reply. I use general hydroponics line. I got the performance pack that has most of the suppliments. I'll post a pic. I used the first week at 1/4 strength and the second week at half strength. I didn't use anything else except for what the first week suggested in the first res. Second week I added calimagic, hygrozyme, sm-90, aqua shield, and great white myco. It seems to have helped to roots. All new growth is white. But the leaves are still looking unhappy. I will respond back ASAP with what ever questions you have. I need to do a res change today but I will wait to hear back. Thanks.

 

[DWCocha]

ok bud .... half strength is WAY WAY to strong ..... is that half of everything ? or just the GH line ?

are you sure your PPM's are only 400 ? ...
what was the PPM of the water before nutes ?
.& do you know what meter that is with ...USA - EU - Truncheon ,ect ? ... if your USA then those PPM should be ok but half strength this soon is far to much ....?

Plus you have 4 different zym , myco supplements .... only one of those is needed mate . ,

a root stimulator would be great though

my advise is change the res for a fresh one ....always leave tap water standing for 24hrs. (bubbling if poss)

add your cal mag first (always) ....around 10ml into your 15 liters or so that fill the bucket to below the netpot

let that mix & add the root stimulator you really need !!! (if you cant get any asap then leave it out but highly recommended ) this can be added at half strength in early stages to promote root growth much better than all those zyms & mycos all together !.

then ONE of the zym supplements ! like hygrozym

then add you GH line as recommended by there chart for seedling stage (ie - more micro) ....BUT only add it upto a certain PPM ... tell me your waters PPM before nutes is & I will advise on that next :thumbs:

finally set your PH to 5.7 & keep it there as best you can through the week mate ....keep a close watch on the PPM & see if they rise or fall ? ... rise is overfeeding , fall is underfeeding "My 2 cents"ragonMasters:

 

[jp13]

Yeah I'm sure the ppm was 400, maybe 450 at most. I'm USA. Ppm before nutes was 0 or 1. I'm using distilled, r.o. water. I have been using rapid start by g.h. for root stimulater. Should I continue this? I keep my ph about 5.6 to 5.8. But it rises to about 6.3 everyday. It never goes beyond that tho. Is that normal? The ppm doesn't rise or fall, it just sits there. Is that normal? My girls are already showing sex. I hope they aren't stunted beyond repair. Thanks for taking the time to help me out. I really appreciate it.i will wait for you to advise me how to go about the rez change today. Then I'll throw up some pics. Thanks again!!

 

[DWCocha]

hi bud , sorry for the delay .... in this order & into 15 liters of De-clorinated water

calmagic - 10 ml
rapid start - half strength
hygrozym - half to full strength
GH line - using the seedling ratio make the PPM up to 450 - 500

set PH @ 5.7-5.8

monitor PPM every few hours & see if it goes up or down - up =overfeed & down =underfeed

not promising anything mate as there pretty stunted for sexed auto's ... but may recover & give you a small yield ? ...most of all learn all you can from your 1st grow & by reading journals & stickys :Sharing One:

 

[jp13]

Well I just did the rez change... I'll post a pic of the ppm for each plant. I'm not sure why they are different. I used the same amounts in each. Anyways, I noticed 2 things tonight. 1, there are some new brown pieces in the roots, and 2 I think my ph meter is off by at least .5 maybe more. I'm going to order some calibration solution. Other than that the plants are still growing and starting to smell good! Hopefully I'll be able to pull an ounce between the 2?? Nonetheless I consider this a learning experience and my next run I will be using hygrozyme from the very beginning and also probably add nutes a Little sooner. I'll check the ppm in a few hours and report back! Wish me and the girls luck!!

 

[DWCocha]

good luck !...you may want to drop the res temps a bit more if you can ,65oF is a bit safer & root issues are usually from temps to high or not enough air ... check out getting a more powerful air pump & decent ceramic air diffusers maybe , I see a lot of new DWC growers missing this important bit or equipment & wondering why there plants are not exploding with growth !. Then rot or slime can happen a lot easier & is hard to get rid of ....

in your last res you had great white which is beneficial bacteria

sm-90 which is also bennies

hygozym which is enzymes to eat the dead root matter

& then aquashield which is a peroxide based h202 supplement that serilizes your res ....killing any & all the other microbes & enzymes you just put in .So not surpized you have some brown spots & you could maybe try a small amount of your sm-90 to help with that ?. less is more when it comes to nutes & baby autos & what goes into your res ,,,to much stuff is not good bro :Sharing One: